VOLUME 57 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 15, 2020 P119
ROSSI TESTS POSITIVE
The first Aragon race saw more drama, with
Valentino Rossi confirming he'd contracted
Covid-19, thus ruling him out of the next two
rounds. He appeared back for the first Valen-
cia race, but only after Garrett Gerloff put in a
stunning performance as a guest of the Yamaha
factory on Friday, putting himself well and truly in
the shop window for a ride in 2022.
Mir continued to rack up the points with another
third at Aragon 2 behind winner Morbidelli and
Rins, and headed to the Ricardo Tormo Circuit at
Valencia for the first of that track's double header
rounds with a point to prove.
Now in the championship lead after Quartararo
finished a disastrous 18th and eighth in Aragon's
two races, Mir needed a win to silence the critics
who said he wouldn't be a worthy champion if he
didn't win a race.
Mir did just that at Valencia 1, taking the win
over Rins after the latter made one tiny mistake
at the hairpin at mid-race distance, allowing Mir
through to a lead he would never relinquish.
SUZUKI SHINES, YAMAHA FREEZES
While Mir and Suzuki were looking odds-on for
the title, it was going belly-up over at Yamaha.
Rossi's and Morbidelli's engine blow ups in the
first two rounds were traced to a set of faulty valves
from an outside supplier. However, due to MotoGP's
engine freezing rules, Yamaha couldn't open their
motors to rectify the problem. A request was put into
the Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers' Association
(MSMA) to do so but was later withdrawn.
The issue stemmed from Yamaha using
engines with different valves than the sample
engine that was delivered to the MSMA at the
start of the season. The result was the loss of
50 Constructor's Championship points and 20
points from the Team's tally, but no title points
were docked from the riders.
By the time the pack reconvened for the second
Valencia race, it was clear the title was Mir's to
lose. The Suzuki rider was in the box seat with 37
points in hand over Quartararo, and only needed
to leave 26 points ahead to take the title. An easy
ride to seventh sealed the deal for the Majorcan,
Alex Rins capped off a fine
season with a win at home
at Aragon, holding off Alex
Marquez (73) and Mir.
Have we seen
the last of Andrea
Dovizioso? "Desmo
Dovi" scored a single
win in Austria, but
it was an otherwise
bleak season. He's
off for 2021, who
knows if he'll return?
